


DQ Week Day 2: Revelation of Parentage

by Kc749



Series: DQ Week 2016 [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-27
Packaged: 2018-07-18 16:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7322713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kc749/pseuds/Kc749





	DQ Week Day 2: Revelation of Parentage

“I’m sorry, what?” Regina’s gaze darts between Maleficent and Lily. It can’t be. She’d have known, right? If she was a parent all those years ago, wouldn’t she have known?

Mal’s eyes are kind, though at this point Regina doesn’t think she deserves it. She basically tried to kill the mother of her unborn child. A part of her disagrees with this assessment. She’d trapped her, yes, stolen the curse from her. But never actively attempted to murder her. Still though, waves of guilt are beginning to drown her as she realises that she’s at least partially guilty of another child growing up without her parents, another baby sent unarmed and undefended to this realm. Her need for vengeance has cost so much already, and just when she thinks she knows how much damage she caused...

“I...” she drops her gaze to Lily’s left hand, the bandage there from earlier at the bus stop, when her rage blinded her enough that she was willing to work with anyone, even Isaac, poor excuse for an author though he may be, just to find a shred of happiness. Suddenly she feels lightheaded, ill, like she might faint. She can’t, can’t show weakness now, doesn’t _deserve_ it when Lily is standing there, a bit behind Mal and staring at her distrustfully. And well she should be. Regina clenches one fist, digs nails into her palm, forces air in and out of her lungs through clenched teeth. “How do you know?” she asks, once she can open her mouth without feeling like she’ll vomit.

“Blood.” Mal reaches out, takes Lily’s wounded hand gently and holds it up. “I transformed first, to show her the easiest way to do it, and as soon as I was in dragon form, I could smell the wound. She smells like you, Regina. Like you and me,” Mal amends. “I wanted to heal her, but she’s still... understandably wary... of magic.”

“You didn’t know?” Regina looks at Mal, wondering. Did she just refuse to tell Regina because of anger over how their relationship ended? Did she know in the Enchanted Forest and forget during the long sleep the curse forced her into?

“I knew I was pregnant. I didn’t know who the other parent was. It’s different for dragons, conception. It is a thing of magic, not bodies. And cross breeding with another species, especially one so short lived, it shouldn’t have been possible.” Mal’s fingers tighten a bit on her daughter’s. “I am very grateful that my belief in it played no part in the possibility.”

Regina can’t take her eyes off Lily (her daughter, her mind clamors, but she ignores it) because now that she knows, there are so many little things she recognises. The ‘fuck you’ attitude in the face of danger. Her risk taking. God, she even resembles Cora a bit, if Regina looks closely enough. The shapes of her eyes and lips.

“Stare much?” Lily remarks, distrust still written on her face. She’s not about to let this woman off the hook for hurting her no matter who she is. There were plenty of deadbeat dads in the system too. Lily isn’t sure if she even believes in family, but she damned sure doesn’t believe it has anything to do with genetics.

“I’m sorry,” Regina says, shaking her head, pulling her eyes away from Lily’s face with an effort. Her gaze lands on the bandage on her daughter’s hand. Her daughter. Who she deliberately cut open.

She’s never been more grateful for the private washroom in the Mayor’s office than today. She wouldn’t have made it anywhere else with how her stomach rebelled. She doesn’t even manage to close or lock the door before she’s on her knees, emptying her stomach. When she feels a hand on her back, another holding her hair back, she tries to say something, that she’s fine, or that she’s not worth worrying over, anything. Her mother’s voice screams in the back of her head about weakness, and she tries to brush away the tears in her eyes, telling herself they’re just physical, a side effect from being sick. Except they won’t stop, even after she’s done throwing up. Her breathing is ragged, and she’d teleport away except she honestly doesn’t know where to go. Henry and Robin and Roland are at the mansion. Emma has enough to deal with, and besides, Regina doesn’t believe it’s in Emma’s job description of friend to counsel her about having left a woman pregnant to deal with the ramifications on their own. Snow crosses her mind, but she bears at least some responsibility for the mess that led her to this moment. Her vault will just remind her of all of her failures.

When her breathing doesn’t slow, the hand that has been resting on her back begins moving, radiating energy. Regina recognises the spell, has mostly only ever used it on skittish horses in the old land, though she can’t count the number of times she wished for it while Henry was growing up and was cranky from teething or fevers or any number of ailments. Within half a minute her anxiety has begun to settle. It will return, because no spell lasts forever, but she can appreciate the gesture in the present moment.

“Thank you,” she says, voice cracking. She feels Mal’s chuckle more than sees it, eyes still blurry.

“I’d be lying if I said that seeing you suffer some of the same symptoms as I had to wasn’t a bit vindicating,” the dragon whispers, and Regina snorts in amusement no matter her inner turmoil.

“Villains and vengeance,” Regina says, using some toilet paper to blow her nose and then flushing the toilet. She lets her head thump back against the wall. “I don’t... What do I do?”

“Only what you are willing to.” A predictable answer from a dragon. For them, nothing matters as much as freedom.

Except perhaps family. “I doubt she wants anything to do with me,” Regina whispers.

“She came here when I asked,” Mal reminds her. “She didn’t have to. And I don’t believe she did it just to cause you pain.”

“What do I say?”

“You have another child. What did you say to him when he didn’t know who you were yet?”

Regina almost regrets telling Mal about those agonizing weeks during the second curse when Henry was back but didn’t know who she was. “I just... tried to be kind to him. To let him get to know me.”

Mal nods. “A good plan.” She stands, offers a hand to Regina and helps her to her feet. “Come, Regina. How about you meet your daughter properly this time?”

Regina takes a deep breath, waving a hand to freshen her breath because now that calm has started to set in, the taste in her mouth (the ‘ick factor’ as Henry calls it) from getting sick is awful. Then she squares her shoulders, pushes open the door, and goes to properly meet her daughter.


End file.
